Rebound, Part II

by Anna Hardcastle

Chapter 2

For the rest of the day in pre-calculus, Chemistry, and French, all Alegra could think about was her rendezvous with Spencer later in the day. She hadn’t had a chance to see Jon again after their almost-conversation that morning and she knew that she should probably explain to him what was wrong. But she wasn’t in the mood to talk to him. Actually, she hadn’t been in the mood to talk to him for a few days.

Two weeks before, Alegra had gone to Connecticut for a wedding that her family was invited to. She had forgotten until the day before she had had to leave that she had originally agreed to be Jonathan’s date for his father’s birthday, and after she had called him to tell him that she wouldn’t be able to make it, Jon flipped, insisting that he was going to miss her too much and didn’t want her to go alone.

“You can bring a date, can’t you?” Jon had pressed, trying to invite himself along with Alegra and her parents.

“No, I don’t think I can,” Alegra answered awkwardly. Of course she would have been able to bring a date, but she didn’t want Jonathan tagging along with her for an entire three day weekend. “We already have hotel reservations and everything and I need to spend time with these people while I’m in Connecticut and I’m going to check out Yale since I’ll be there. You’ll be bored and you have the party, anyway,” Alegra had tried to dissuade him.

In the end, Alegra had had to put her foot down, saying that she couldn’t just bring along her boyfriend at the last minute without any warning. Jonathan had incessantly texted and called her all weekend, insisting that he missed her and wished that they could be together. Alegra thought that he was getting way too clingy and childish and she didn’t want to deal with it.

Then, the following weekend, Jonathan had showed up at Alegra’s doorstep, completely under-dressed and uninvited. Her parents were throwing an exclusive-to-club-members-only dinner party for their fellow country club members from the previous summer spent in the family’s Hamptons estate.

Since then, Alegra had been avoiding Jon at all costs, annoyed, suffocated and slightly embarrassed by his behavior.

On the other hand, after texting Spencer all day, she felt like she already knew him, and wanted him. He seemed charming, exciting and fun; all the things that Alegra craved and all the things Jonathan wasn’t. Spencer seemed smart and funny, not to mention gorgeous on top of it all.

“I can’t wait to chill with U later,” Spencer had texted Alegra. He seemed equally eager to get to know Alegra more.

“Neither can I,” Alegra had clumsily typed back, while trying to conceal her iPhone under her desk during AP chemistry. “My friend is coming 2, is that OK w/ U?” Alegra thought it best to warn Spencer that Jules would be there, just so that he would be clear that it wasn’t going to be a date.

“Yeah, that’s cool. We can hang out, alone, another time. J,” Alegra had read on her screen seconds later, causing a flush of color to rise up her neck to her cheeks.

The second that the last bell of the day rang, Alegra hurried to her locker, careful to avoid Jon, for a quick powder and lippy touch-up. Then she ran to the front gates to meet Jules; as she’d suspected, Jackson was standing next to her.

As they started their walk a few blocks uptown toward Starbucks in the now sunny and warm weather, Jackson turned to Alegra.

“So, how long have you known Spencer?” he asked curiously if not questioningly.

“I met him this morning,” Alegra replied. “Wait, how do you know his name?”

“I gave him your number,” Jackson replied. “I used to go to Charles’, remember?”

“Oh! Yeah,” Alegra said, realizing that Jackson must have known Spencer.

As the group reached Starbucks, they saw that Spencer was already inside, three Iced Caramel Macchiatos on the table in front of him.

As he saw Jackson walk in behind the girls, Spencer rose from his seat, motioned to the chubby girl behind the counter for another drink and embraced Jackson in an awkward guy-hug.

“Hey, man. It’s been a while,” Spencer said, happily surprised. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

“Yeah, my girlfriend dragged me along,” Jackson said, less than enthusiastically. He motioned to Jules, “This is the one I’m always talking about.”

            After saying hi to Jules, Spencer turned to Alegra and kissed her on the cheek before sitting down across from her. Everyone sat in silence for a second as they sipped their coffees. Jackson and Jules started arguing because Jackson’s foot was apparently on Jules’ side of the table. Alegra smiled nervously at Spencer as she tormented her brain for something to say to break the tense silence.

Jules turned her attention from Jackson and nudged Alegra under the table.

“So, you know, Alegra is an amazing artist. She’s actually art editor for the yearbook,” Jules blabbed.

Spencer glanced at Alegra, a smirk prominent on his face.

“Yeah, I know. We’ve been texting a lot today,” he said, clearly proud of himself.

“Let’s get out of here,” Alegra said suddenly, eager for some air and to take the spotlight away from herself.

“Um, actually, you know what, I have a lot of work to do, so you two go ahead,” Jules said obviously, poking Jackson as she stood up.

“Oh, yeah, me too,” Jackson agreed after taking the hint. “See you later, guys.”

He thumped Spencer on the back, kissed Alegra on the cheek and walked toward the door with Jules.

As she slipped by Alegra, Jules winked at her before rushing out of the door while slapping Jackson for walking too slowly.

Alegra felt nervous jitters; this was not part of the plan and she hated it when things didn’t go according to plan.

Spencer and Alegra also got up and stood outside Starbucks for a few minutes, contemplating where to go. Alegra couldn’t stand the silence so suggested the first place that came to her mind.

“Why don’t we go to the park, it’s nice out.”

Spencer agreed and they began walking. As their hands bumped against each other, Alegra’s guilty conscience sprang to life. She had tried to do everything she could to make sure that this wasn’t a date; it was just two people who had a lot in common getting to know each other better. But she still avoided telling Spencer that she already had a boyfriend.  She couldn’t deny that she liked him, but she knew that nothing could happen between them. Finally, just as Spencer was about to grab her hand, Alegra decided to tell him.

“I have to tell you something,” Alegra said, moving her hand away. “I’m sort of… with someone right now.”

“I know,” Spencer started. When he saw the confused expression on Alegra’s face, he continued. “Jackson told me.”

 “Oh, okay, well, good… that you know,” Alegra said, nervousness apparent in her voice.

They were both quiet for a few seconds as each of them considered what to say next. Before Alegra could say anything else, Spencer cut the silence.

“Jackson also told me that you don’t really seem that into your boyfriend anymore. He said that he was surprised that you guys even got together in the first place.”

Spencer’s voice went up as he said the last syllable, making it sound like a kind of hopeful question. But Alegra wasn’t sure how to respond. She didn’t want Jonathan to hear about her real feelings from someone else; she knew that news always traveled fast, especially on the Upper East Side.    

“Well,” she began, careful with her choice of words, “We’ve been together for a while. I guess I’m just a bit bored.”

Spencer gave her a somewhat happy look.

“Well, that’s good then. I mean, for me… right?”

Alegra looked up a couple of inches into Spencer’s eyes. They were bright and irresistible, much like Dylan’s had been.

The situation seemed rash given that they had known each other for barely ten hours. But at the same time, there was an air of freshness and spontaneity about Spencer.

One that Alegra couldn’t resist.

“Yeah, it’s good,” she said, a small smile growing on her lips. 

To Be Continued...